The Local Property Tax letters LPT1 – have started arriving – and already causing confusion for some people.

Some people who have checked their property valuation and property tax banding on the Revenue online valuation map – now find that their letter contains an estimate of the Property Tax that is not the same as they saw on the map.

The newspaper headline writers and Joe Duffy will be busy over the next few days winding everyone up and trying to tell us all its a disaster – but it isn’t.

The online valuation map from Revenue is a fairly helpful tool that helps you find the average value for similar properties in your local area . It can show the estimated value of a semi detached house or a detached house ar an apartment in your electoral area . It doesn’t mean that Revenue are saying that is the value of your house – it just means that when working out how much your house is worth yourself you have an idea of the local average. You need to consider size , bedrooms, garden etc when working out the value.

Of course – many people (not helped by some of the media) are treating the valuation map figure as an individual valuation . It’s just a guide.

Now the letters are going out with an estimated property tax amount on them.
In the majority of cases – Revenue don’t have a clue what type of house we all live in. If they have managed to get the owner’s name right they have done well !
They don’t know for sure if they are sending a letter to a bungalow or a detached house or a semi.
So the estimate on the letter will probably be based on an average value for all types of property in the area – and therefore in many cases will not be the same as tthe value people see when they look at the valuation map for their area and select their type of property.

The estimate on the letter is probably less accurate than the value shown on the map. But – they could both be wrong , one of them could be wrong or they could be both spot on.

People need to realise that each owner is supposed to decide what band their house falls into. You don’t just accept the Revenue estimate (even if it’s lower than you expect)

If they don’t send back the form or don’t supply a valuation band – then Revenue will use the estimate printed on the form and will attempt to recover that. It is an offence not to return a form or to return a form with no value declared – and the possible penalty is to end up paying double the tax.